No new news as of today regarding the status of Spirit of South Carolina in Shipyard, but I hope to visit, tomorrow, Wednesday, but Saturday at the latest.
This past weekend however, unexpectedly turned out to be both productive and exciting. In my last email blast, I believe I alerted Volunteers that the 3-masted schooner Denis Sullivan would be stopping in Charleston, on her way to start her winter programs in the Caribbean. By last Friday we'd narrowed her arrival to this Sunday around Noon,, High Tide, to catch the slack current.
Turns out that she was arriving under command of a different than normal Master, Sean Flynn, with a crew that included 14 "Guest Crew" from the Midwest, most who had been involved in the schooners construction and operations on the Great Lakes.
As part of my welcome communications to Denis Sullivan's Port Captain, I requested that she inform the Captain that the Yokohama's at the face dock they expected to occupy were in disarray, and practically useless as fenders; should be prepared with fender boards to spread across the dock pilings. Meanwhile I contacted a few stalwarts to rustle up any that could help take lines Sunday at noon. Walter Barton, Lance Halderman and David Reid responded, and we all mustered on the dock in time to see Denis Sullivan approaching from the south where she had anchored over night.
Between Peter Kinslow, the Dockmaster on shift, and myself we were communicating with Capt Flynn aboard the schooner. He was rightfully a bit wary. While we still enjoyed a slack tide, the ENE winds were gusting into the teens kicking up lots of chop, and creating a more difficult maneuvering situation for the schooner, who was hoping to tie up starboard-to, but facing a river current and gusty breezes wanting to push her into those pilings. An added frustration; Two large Yokohama fenders(huge rubber cylinders floating horizontally)
, strung together on a pole were floating uselessly out of position on the south end of the face dock;, their northern tether having broken loose several weeks ago, leaving the string to float out and stretch south with the tide, held only by a chain bridle around what before had been its southern end.
Using a combination of VHF and finally our cell phones, we discussed the situation with the Yokohama's, and specifically what it would take, in the way of water-borne towing strength to pull two thirds of the Yokohama string back into position and secure it. Denis Sullivan promptly sent over her larger tender-a center console Rigid. Walter, released the line holding the loose end of the yokohama string and dropped coiled line into the tender's bow. The Coxwain made it fast to a center cleat and gunned the engine in reverse pulling the loose end of the errant two-yokohama string in a large arc out away from the dock, and back into position in the center of the dock where Bryan had been wrestling the single yokohama back into its correct position. Within minutes Bryan secured the two-yokohama string along-side their proper pilings. Lance with a boat pole struggled to keep the huge hard rubber yokohama fenders centered on their pilings while David and Walter creatively bent tag lines on both ends of the Yokohama's to stabilize their position on the pilings long enough for Denis Sullivan to ease up along side. Bryan stood up from his last stopper knot to look out into the harbor towards Denis Sullivan, and pulled out his cell phone.
But Noooo,,, While we finished our last tagline lashing, Peter was yelling for our help. A 70-foot sloop, "Heartbreaker" only 50 yards out had suddenly lost power, while edging towards the Maritime Center Harbor entrance. Now she was our of control, in danger of drifting into the entrance and colliding with any of the three huge catamarans' docked inside. A lone Boat US tow was approaching, but had insufficient power to do anything but slow or stop one end of the huge yacht at a time.
As the "Heartbreaker "was now only 25 feet from the face dock drifting closer, Peter, shouting at the sloops' skipper, and me, we shifted gears to :rescue mode. Bryan called for a Spring line which proved too short to reach the cleat until Peter appeared with an additional rope from somewhere, bent on a sheet bend, adding another 15 feet enough to belay the sloop from slipping back south and into the harbor entrance. Next a bow line came over; Lance and David, in turn catching lines and getting them over the nearest cleat they could reach, primarily to stop the sloops drift and allow the small Boat US tug to push her along the face dock, finally centering on those 3 yokohama fenders we'd worked so hard to restore not 20 minutes before, for Denis Sullivan's benefit.
Meanwhile, Denis Sullivan had been quietly circling out in the channel watching their berth slowly fill up with a huge injured yacht. A three-way phone discussion and shouting across the water with the tow boat revealed that , the yacht would have to remain at this berth until weather moderated, and a second towboat was made available to pull "Heartbreaker" off the dock and nudge her southward onto the fuel dock. Meanwhile Denis Sullivan was constrained to find a spot and anchor, again, overnight when hopefully conditions would allow Heartbreaker to vacate their berth. With one last phone conversation with Capt Sean aboard the schooner, Bryan arranged to come back Monday afternoon, same noon time to catch slack tide. Hopefully, the broken sloop would have been herself towed away to a more appropriate berth to trouble shoot her engines.
Monday, Noon, Steady rain, winds gusting 15 knots,, Bryan walked down the dock to where The sloop, Heartbreaker was preparing to depart under the care of two Boat US towboats where were rigging tow lines to nudge her towards the face dock. Christian Lawyer, Shift Dockmaster and Bryan together cast off all eight of Heartbreaker's dock lines. No sooner was Heartbreaker cleared away, Denis Sullivan sloww-ly ghosted into position 50 feet off the dock, with hands standing by to toss heaving lines.
Like Clockwork, Capt Flynn shouted out his planned sequence to Bryan and Christian standing by to take lines. First, #2, spring line leading aft to stop the schooner's forward drifting and pull her bow closer. Next, #4, Stern quarter line; Bryan caught the well thrown over the shoulder heaver, furiously reeling in the heaving line to reach the heavy looped end of blue nylon hawser, and drag it the twenty feet, around two pilings to the northern end of the face dock, slipping the loop over the huge steel horned cleat, and shout back, "Number Four is ON!" Meanwhile, #1-Bow line, followed finally by #3 spring line are quickly sent over where an additional Denis Sullivan deckhand has stepped off of the push-boat, and helping. Heaving lines, their clove hitches taken off the hawsers, quickly gasket-coiled and thrown back onto the deck. Christian, and the schooners engineer, spend another 20 minutes trying different pedestals, then different power cables before finally joining the right combination. Capt Flynn directs crew to rig up their own gangplank but expresses interest in Spirit's gangway as an option. So Bryan explains the complexities of Spirit's gangway, and manages expectations including the diligence of constantly monitoring the gangway once rigged up, to maintain a safe, useable platform as the tide cycles up and down... 5-6 feet. Capt Flynn eye's the configuration for a moment, then nods. Bryan departs to go home and dry out.
On Tuesday afternoon, with a high tide, Bryan will drop by the dock to check on the Dory, and look over the schooner.. Sure, enough. Spirit's hand-railed gangway is rigged up next to Denis Sullivan's, plank, and is stretched nearly vertical to clear Denis Sullivan's cap rail. "Welcome to our world.."
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